This invention relates to medical ultrasonic imaging, and more particularly, to ultrasonic imaging systems and methods for the simultaneous imaging of motion in two or more planes of a volumetric region of the body.
U.S. patent describes the use of a two dimensional array probe to ultrasonically scan two planes of a volumetric region of the body simultaneously in real time. The two dimensional array enables beams to be transmitted and focused electronically in any direction through the volumetric region opposing the array transducer. This means that two or more image planes in the region can be scanned at a rapid enough rate for the production of simultaneous real-time images of both image planes. This mode of operation is referred to as the xe2x80x9cbiplanexe2x80x9d mode. The biplane mode is an effective way to image a 3D region of the body when a true three dimensional image may be difficult to interpret. Planar (two dimensional) images are more familiar to most diagnosticians, and two image planes makes it possible to image an organ from several different viewpoints at the same time. It is very useful when the clinician is able to adjust the relative positions of the two image planes when surveying the anatomy of interest. In the biplane mode as discussed in this patent, one of the image planes is always oriented normal to the center of the array probe, in the same manner as is the image plane of a conventional one dimensional array used for two dimensional imaging. This plane is referred to as the reference plane. The other image plane can be manipulated by the clinician in several different ways. One is to rotate the second image plane with respect to the reference image. In the rotate mode, the two images share a common center line and the second image can be rotated around this center line, meaning that the second image plane can be co-planar with the reference image, oriented at 90xc2x0 with respect to the reference image, or at any angular orientation between 0xc2x0 and 90xc2x0. The other biplane mode discussed in the patent is the tilt mode. In the tilt mode the center line of the second image is common with one of the s canlines of the reference image. The common line can be varied so that the second image can intersect the center of the reference image, either of the most lateral scanlines of the reference image, or any scanline in between. However, other planar orientations besides those of the rotate and lateral tilt biplane modes may also be useful in a particular clinical situation, better providing images that the clinician needs for diagnosis. These orientations may be useful in B mode imaging and in Doppler imaging.
In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the relative orientation of two or more image planes in a volumetric region can be varied in the elevation dimension. In one embodiment the position of a reference image is held stationary with respect to the probe and a second image is varied elevationally with respect to the reference image. The two images can be co-planar or located in elevationally separate image planes. In another embodiment the two planes maintain a common apex and the second image is tilted elevationally with respect to the reference plane so that a common depth is at a common distance from the other plane. In yet another embodiment the two images both have a color box at the same respective coordinates of the image. A single control can be used to adjust the size or location of the two color boxes in the two images in the same way.